How To Fix Forward Head Posture & Neck Pain

forward head posture doesn't just look bad it causes a huge amount of problems in the shoulders and the neck so in this video i'm going to show you the best five exercises ever to fix it hey welcome to body fix exercises my name's stefan been a chiropractor for 27 years and i'm here to help you understand prevent and improve musculoskeletal problems so let's do it poor neck posture and all the associated problems in your neck and your shoulders is a modern day epidemic and is it any wonder we spend all of our time with our head forward and down looking at laptops and mobile phones and a body just gets used to being in that position it gets stuck in that position now imagine your head weighs as much as a bowling ball well it does okay so if it's upright it's all good but if it's forward it puts an incredible amount of pressure on those muscles and those joints and that damages and irritates them correcting it can not only alleviate so many of these problems but it really makes you feel different you feel looser and lighter and more energetic so what can we do well if you spend so much time with the head forward and down three things happen our pecs shorten with our shoulders constantly forward and our sternocleidomastoid muscle shortens pulling our head forward the muscles at the back the rhomboids and the mid to lower trapezius lengthen and weaken as do our deep neck flexes and joints at the base of the neck even the mid and lower thoracics seize into this flexed position to fix anterior head carriage as it's called we need to address all three areas stretch strengthen and mobilize these five exercises work on all of these issues and they feel great so let's check them out now first of all just a quick reminder that if any of these exercises hurt don't do them you might have inflammation or degeneration or some kind of congenital issue in your neck in which case you should go and see your healthcare practitioner now i will also give you the super quick version right at the end for those of you that are short on time but with these exercises i really encourage you to try to do them all because you really feel different the first exercise is to address any pec muscle tightness our arms spend a lot of time forward on keyboard mouses writing etc so we need to counteract that to stretch the left pectoral muscles put your left hand up on the wall at about head height with a slight bend in your arm put the opposite foot forward and then bend your front leg to stretch your arm back making sure you don't arch your lower back you should feel a slight stretch in your chest muscle hold that for 20 seconds and then do the other side exercise 2 is designed to mobilize the thoracic spine the mid back area is the key to forward head posture because the forward direction starts from here many people recommend a foam roller for this type of exercise but a rolled up towel is much more adaptable to individual shape and flexibility first fold a large towel into two if it's thick or three if it's thinner then roll it on an angle so that it ends up with a bit of tapering at the top and bottom place it just above the pelvis and lay back over it on the floor but it's very important that you bend your legs and keep them bent the entire time so that you don't over arch your lumbar spine want your head to be on the tapered end lower than your mid-back but not right back keep your chin tucked in and support it with something low if you can't keep your chin down this is important if your chin is down it opens up the spinal joints if the chin is right up it closes them down and can jam or irritate them then put your arms out slightly so you feel your body is draping over the rolled up towel if the towel is too big or rolled up too firmly it feels like you're lying on a rock and it's uncomfortable if the roll towel is too small or it's rolled too loosely it feels like nothing is happening if it's just right it'll feel like a nice stretch back over the towel then just lie there for a minute if your spine is really rigid and you're really struggling with this try it with no tail at all just keep that chin tucked in exercise 3 is something that you're unlikely to see in many postural videos but i've seen some incredible results with this in my practice sitting with your legs crossed put one hand behind your body and rotate your torso and neck to look behind you keep your posture upright and not slumped and hold for two to three seconds then do the other side repeat three times each side stretching gently not aggressively this exercise can release restricted vertebra quite high up in your mid back but it can also release the sternoclavicular joints and the sternominubial joint of your breastbone both of these joints need to be able to move freely to achieve proper posture because your breast bone actually lifts in good posture exercise 4. now it's time to strengthen some of the shoulder blade stabilizing muscles with the yw or wall angel exercise with your feet 10 to 15 centimeters from the wall move back so that your pelvis and shoulders can touch the wall your head too if you can comfortably do it with your chin down if you can't touch the wall with your head just move it back as far as it'll comfortably go keeping your chin down tuck the small of your back in slightly to engage your core and reduce the arch in your lower back then slowly lift your arms and lower them touch the wall with your knuckles and if you can with your elbows too you'll feel your mid-back muscles working hard to hold your arms back if you've got a sore shoulder and it hurts just do the motion without touching the wall as you raise your arms try not to raise your shoulders towards your ears try to keep your shoulders down just do five the first time and work slowly towards ten over a few weeks this is a tough exercise if it's really tough just do one or two and build it up slowly exercise five the last exercise is my favorite it mobilizes the spine at the base of the neck and strengthens the deep neck flexors the rhomboids and the lower trapezius and if you put a little addition at the end it stretches the sternocleidomastoid muscle the sem2 so starting off with the same position as the wall angel feet 10 to 15 centimeters out from the wall pelvis and shoulders touching the wall and lower back tucked in slightly draw your head back to touch the wall if you can do it without straining but keep your chin down not up it helps to put your finger on your chin the first few times to get a feel for this motion then at the same time pull your shoulders up against the wall by squeezing your shoulder blades together and down do this about five times holding for a couple of seconds each time this will give your body a positional sense of where good posture is to stretch the sem-2 you can finish up by tilting your head from side to side just keep the back of your head touching the wall if you keep your chin forward instead of rolling it to one side you'll feel a stretch on the side of your neck up high that's the upper sem and if it's tight it pulls the base of the head down and forward which is really bad for posture so we want to stretch this muscle again a finger on the chin can help here repeat five times each side slowly try to do these exercises at least five times a week if you're short on time just do number five because it covers so much and if you've got a fairly rounded mid back exercise number two lying on the towel is very important as well okay now just be aware that it's normal that you'll feel a little bit sore on the muscles afterwards okay it's just like going for a jog or something you feel a bit sore afterwards but that's just your body adjusting and changing so if the muscles feel a bit sore in between your shoulder blades just skip it a day or two i remember the first time i started doing the wall angels and the neck retractions my muscles were squealing and i could really feel it the next day but if you keep with it you'll really feel different by the end of it now make sure you check out my video on the four main causes of pain and stiffness at the base of the neck because they're the four positions that cause poor neck posture in the first place they get the joints jammed in these bad positions but that's it for today i hope you liked the video if you did give it a thumbs up consider subscribing leave a comment and i'll see you in the next video cheers a lot of pressure on those muscles you have it the first bit thank you

Channel: Body Fix Exercises

Views: 673,184

Keywords: forward head posture, fwd head posture, forward head correction, forward head posture exercises, forward neck, forward head, fix bad posture, chin tucks, how to fix forward head posture, forward head posture correction, forward head posture stretches, forward head posture fix, text neck, correct posture, slumped posture, bad posture, posture fix, posture, hunchback, rounded shoulders, kyphosis, improve posture, fix posture, poor posture, neck hump, neck hump exercises

Id: VmV4IN6EJQA

Length: 10min 33sec (633 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 04 2020